Under $5,000 Application Form
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UNDER $5,000 APPLICATION FORM COVER PAGE PROJECT INFORMATION Please complete the fields below with information regarding your project. Project Title Macdonald Campus Native Pollinator Habitat Brief Description This joint initiative between Macdonald Campus and John Abbott College will aim to showcase how best to support wild bees and other pollinators, so that our staff and students can be ambassadors . Total Estimated Project Budget $2,876 Amount Requested from SPF $1,876 Campus(es) Impacted Downtown Macdonald Gault Nature Reserve Other CONTACT INFORMATION Project Leader This person must be a current McGill University student, administrative staff, or academic staff. Name Dr. Frieda Beauregard Affiliation Academic Staff Phone (438) 392-4902 Faculty/Unit/Organization AES Email [email protected] Campus Macdonald Project Team Members The SPF encourages you to be inclusive, collaborative (especially between staff and students), diverse, and interdisciplinary when possible. To list more members, please e-mail the list to SPF Staff to include with your application. Name Lindsay Flood Affiliation Administrative Staff Email [email protected] Faculty/Unit/Organization AES Name Shannon Coulter-Low Affiliation Administrative Staff Email [email protected] Faculty/Unit/Organization John Abbott College Name Susan Marsh Affiliation Administrative Staff Email [email protected] Faculty/Unit/Organization John Abbott College Name Dr. Gail MacInnis Affiliation Postgraduate Email [email protected] Faculty/Unit/Organization Concordia/AES Name Krisztina Mosdoss Affiliation Postgraduate Email [email protected] Faculty/Unit/Organization AES SUBMISSION INFORMATION In line with the SPF Eligibility Criteria, our team certifies that this project takes place at McGill University, is sustainability focused, is requesting seed funding, and is action oriented. Yes No Our team has read the SPF Terms & Conditions and agrees to respect them. Yes No Our team understands that this application is not confidential and consents to have its contents shared with relevant stakeholders during the review process and, if approved, on the SPF website. Yes No Our team agrees to have their contact information included in the complete and shared application. Yes No Copyright © 2018 McGill University Sustainability Projects Fund · 1010 Sherbrooke Street West, Suite 1200, Montréal, QC, Canada H3A 2R7 · www.mcgill.ca/sustainability/spf UNDER $5,000 APPLICATION FORM PROJECT OVERVIEW + PLAN Instructions: Please answer the questions as clearly and concisely as possible; then, submit your draft online. SPF Staff will respond with feedback on your application within 2 weeks. Once finalized, the application will be provided to the SPF Governance Council for their review and decision. As a reminder, all SPF applications are assessed using the SPF Eligibility & Evaluation Criteria: ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA EVALUATION CRITERIA AT MCGILL SUSTAINABILITY FOCUSED ANALYSIS IMPACT FEASIBILITY SEED FUNDING ACTION ORIENTED COLLABORATION SUPPORT CAPACITY BUILDING Before starting, you may find it helpful to consult the SPF Sustainability Brief and Vision 2020 Climate & Sustainability Action Plan. CONTEXT Criteria assessed in this section: SUSTAINABILITY FOCUSED, ANALYSIS 1. What specific sustainability-related need/issue have you identified at McGill and aim to address through your project? In your response, please describe clearly how the need/issue is related to sustainability and what research you have done on this issue, if any. Note: Please wait to detail your project idea in Question 2. Limit ~200 Words Native pollinator populations are largely under pressure because of habitat loss, and home gardens and other greenspaces can be managed differently to provide habitat; for example, through pesticide-free green space management, which Macdonald campus adheres to. " “[O]f the 100 crop species that provide 90 per cent of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees”. To put it simply, we need bees if we are to continue to grow the food we eat. This quote from Mr. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme, […] is a good summary of why bee health should be important to all Canadians. " (Extract from: https://sencanada.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/412/agfo/rep/rep09may15-e.pdf). There are more than 500 species of native bees in Eastern Canada. Native bees (and other pollinators) provide an extremely important service in our ecosystem. Many of the foods and crops we rely on benefit from native bee pollination. Bees move large amounts of pollen between flowering plants, thus pollinating flowers, leading to great seed and fruit production. About half of the world’s plant species depend upon animals, like bees, for pollination. Some plants require a specific native bee for proper pollination. [E.g, tomatoes can only be effectively pollinated by Bumblebees]. "(Extract from: https://conservationhalton.ca/help-native-bees) PROJECT IDEA Criteria assessed in this section: ALL ELIGIBILITY & EVALUATION CRITERIA 2. What is your project idea? Please describe the idea thoroughly and concisely. In your response, share how the project is new or how it complements, builds upon, or scales existing initiatives. Limit ~400 Words McGill University’s Macdonald Campus is invested in teaching, studying and innovating in the field of environmental sustainability. John Abbott College teaches a full range of CEGEP level programs and is also invested in taking a leadership role in reducing its environmental impact. For example, they created a sustainability position (Shannon Coulter-Low fills this), and in 2010-2012 they build the LEED gold certified Anne-Marie Edward Building. This Pollinator Habitat project would be a new joint campus sustainability project; bringing these two campus communities together, we hope to foster other sustainability collaborations. We also aim to showcase how best to support wild bees and other pollinators, so that our staff and students can be ambassadors for their own communities. Native pollinator populations are largely under pressure because of habitat loss, and home gardens and other greenspaces can be managed differently to provide habitat; for example, through pesticide-free green space management, which Macdonald campus adheres to. Within several different initiatives outside this project, native species habitat is being created, for example through the planting of native nectaring trees and shrubs this past fall, a project that went ahead while following safety protocols for COVID. As part of this native pollinator project, permanent signage at John Abbott and Macdonald would educate visitors about how to care for bees and Copyright © 2018 McGill University Sustainability Projects Fund · 1010 Sherbrooke Street West, Suite 1200, Montréal, QC, Canada H3A 2R7 · www.mcgill.ca/sustainability/spf UNDER $5,000 APPLICATION FORM other insects. In particular, we would like to inform people how they can do more by choosing low-cost and more effective solutions to support native bees than the store-bought bee homes that often don’t provide ideal conditions and can lead to greater bee mortality, as well as promote the planting of native plant species. Ground nesting and cavity nesting habitat would be created with logs/created snags with drilled holes and through small bare-ground sections of well drained soil for ground nesting species. We would also engage students on the two campuses by hosting monitoring and habitat cleaning and maintenance sessions in the spring and fall, that could either be run with a general call for volunteers (this is the plan for 2021) or associated with particular classes (courses with possible overlap: AEBI 210, ENVB 210, ENTO 340, ENTO 440, PLNT 460, WILD 401). This would also be an opportunity for McGill students to gain practice leading more junior students, since CEGEP students are at the grade 12-13 and freshmen level. Long-term documentation of this project would come from the McGill University Herbarium. The monitoring protocol and habitat designs have oversight from Dr. Gail MacInnis, a pollination biologist. 3. Is your project related to the University’s Vision 2020 Sustainability Strategy? Yes No Not sure If yes, how does it relate? Please refer to the strategy category or related action from the 2017-2020 Climate & Sustainability Action Plan in your response. Limit ~100 Words RESEARCH: Enhance the visibility of sustainability research at McGill; Create a hub of expertise and centre of excellence in sustainability systems. EDUCATION: Increase access to extra-curricular opportunities in sustainability for undergraduate students; Assess students’ knowledge of sustainabilit; Improve sustainability content in McGill orientation events. CONNECTIVITY: Engage and connect McGill staff members through sustainability-related programs and activities. GOVERNANCE: Encourage employees to adopt and promote sustainable behaviours. IMPLEMENTATION Criteria assessed in this section: ACTION ORIENTED, FEASIBILITY, IMPACT 4. List the key activities for your project and indicate the timing for these on the right. Please be specific and realistic when formulating your activities, ensuring that they are achievable within the indicated timeframe. Key Project Activities Start Date End Date (MM-DD-YY) (MM-DD-YY) Obtain necessary approvals from Campus Planning, Master Plan Committee, Etc. 01-01-21 01-31-21 Design, obtain approvals, and order signage